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Lager
Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company
- From:
- Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company
- British Columbia, Canada
- Style:
- European / Dortmunder Export Lager
- ABV:
- 5.5%
- Score:
- 86
- Avg:
- 3.78 | pDev: 11.11%
- Reviews:
- 17
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Aug 05, 2018
- Added:
- May 24, 2011
- Wants:
- 1
- Gots:
- 6
Our lager is a version of the Dortmunder style. It is a pale golden lager, that is balanced between sweet malt and dry hop flavours. The lager has a clean, dry finish with some mild fruitiness delivered by the US version of German Hallertau hops and traditional Polish Lublin.
18 IBU
18 IBU
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by spinrsx:
Rated by spinrsx from Canada (ON)
3.5/5 rDev -7.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Mar 02, 2015
3.5/5 rDev -7.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Mar 02, 2015
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by Parmesan from Colorado
3.9/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
3.9/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
L: Pours a brilliant copper orange with a fizzy white head that is quite small and no lacing on the glass.
S: Cereal and sweet malt, mixed with a sweet caramel, and a light floral hop presence.
T: Cereal grain and malt mixed with a sweet caramel and light floral hop, a touch sweet but still nice.
F: Light to medium body and crisp.
O: Maybe a touch too sweet but still a very nice lager.
Aug 05, 2018S: Cereal and sweet malt, mixed with a sweet caramel, and a light floral hop presence.
T: Cereal grain and malt mixed with a sweet caramel and light floral hop, a touch sweet but still nice.
F: Light to medium body and crisp.
O: Maybe a touch too sweet but still a very nice lager.
Reviewed by Kobold from Canada (BC)
3.35/5 rDev -11.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
3.35/5 rDev -11.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Look: A lightly benighted field of straw
Smell : weed tangled earthiness and long wet hair whipping you in the nose. A former sour dough bread package flits by on the breeze of old cut flowers entering the fragrant stage of decomposition. Dirty yeast motes ping in the background radiance. An occasional waft of dead breath reminds one of ordinary mortality.
Taste: citrus infused dough becoming biscuits with a dash of dried orange peel fragments. On the side rest shy, muted candies. The imbibing ends in a big, lingering uncarbonated orange crush kiss.
Jul 01, 2016Smell : weed tangled earthiness and long wet hair whipping you in the nose. A former sour dough bread package flits by on the breeze of old cut flowers entering the fragrant stage of decomposition. Dirty yeast motes ping in the background radiance. An occasional waft of dead breath reminds one of ordinary mortality.
Taste: citrus infused dough becoming biscuits with a dash of dried orange peel fragments. On the side rest shy, muted candies. The imbibing ends in a big, lingering uncarbonated orange crush kiss.
Reviewed by Hat_Fulla_Beer from Canada (AB)
3.9/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
3.9/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
355ml can poured into tulip.
Pours a slightly hazy golden yellow with one and a half fingers of fluffy white head that leaves scattered blobs of lace as it quickly recedes.
Smells of rising bread dough, breakfast biscuits, faint muddled citrus and mild cut grass.
Tastes of sweet, grainy pale malt, more nutty honeyed biscuit and more citrusy, grassy hops.
Feels bright and fizzy. Medium-light bodied with playfully prickly carbonation. Finishes off-sweet.
Verdict: Recommended. Solid hot weather beer.
Jun 08, 2016Pours a slightly hazy golden yellow with one and a half fingers of fluffy white head that leaves scattered blobs of lace as it quickly recedes.
Smells of rising bread dough, breakfast biscuits, faint muddled citrus and mild cut grass.
Tastes of sweet, grainy pale malt, more nutty honeyed biscuit and more citrusy, grassy hops.
Feels bright and fizzy. Medium-light bodied with playfully prickly carbonation. Finishes off-sweet.
Verdict: Recommended. Solid hot weather beer.
Reviewed by headlessparrot from Canada (ON)
3.96/5 rDev +4.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
3.96/5 rDev +4.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Beer poured into my glass from a six-pack of cans (and, just as an aside, the Howe Sound Lager cans are maybe my favourite cans--just aesthetically speaking--in the country); a semi-aggressive pour netted an absurd amount of fluffy, loose head that recedes slowly to a finger but persists and leaves a lot of lacing. Colour is a slightly foggy copper/orange.
Smell is primarily bready, pale malt (maybe a touch of caramel malt as well?), accentuated by some nice light grassy floral presence. Fresh grain. Slight copper or metallic note, a gentle (not unpleasant) sour twang. Taste is fresh, crisp malt, with a decent amount of hop flavour--minus some of the hop bitterness. Grassy, bready, slightly yeasty. Dry. Faint citrus, slight tree sap, wood-chips. Medium-high carbonation, but good body.
The canned presentation wants you to believe this is a highly sessionable lager, but it's really not: it's quite dry, a bit heavy, and very flavourful. Easy to burn out on. And yet it's also probably one of the best Canadian craft lagers I can remember trying in quite awhile. So there's that.
Jul 22, 2015Smell is primarily bready, pale malt (maybe a touch of caramel malt as well?), accentuated by some nice light grassy floral presence. Fresh grain. Slight copper or metallic note, a gentle (not unpleasant) sour twang. Taste is fresh, crisp malt, with a decent amount of hop flavour--minus some of the hop bitterness. Grassy, bready, slightly yeasty. Dry. Faint citrus, slight tree sap, wood-chips. Medium-high carbonation, but good body.
The canned presentation wants you to believe this is a highly sessionable lager, but it's really not: it's quite dry, a bit heavy, and very flavourful. Easy to burn out on. And yet it's also probably one of the best Canadian craft lagers I can remember trying in quite awhile. So there's that.
Reviewed by biegaman from Canada (ON)
4.02/5 rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.02/5 rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Howe Sound Lager has a boisterous golden tone that is deep and gives the beer a very full-bodied look. In contrast to most commercial lagers this one appears to be robust and quite evidently undiluted. Owing to such hearty maltiness highlights and head flourish while clarity struggles.
Malted grain is every bit as concentrated on the nose, where mildly sweet and gently toasted barley notes absolutely thrive. The aroma may be straightforward but nothing so commanding should be called simple; whereas I often quickly bore of smelling lagers, this one could keep my attention for hours!
For lager lovers, such a clean malty profile is where the heart is. Each sip tastes nourishing, comforting, and wholesome. Its bready, cereal-like flavour and its soft, lightly honeyed lingering is absolutely delectable. Bottom line: beer doesn't get more approachable than this.
Few, if any, of the world's beverages provide the satiation and satisfaction of a Dortmund- or Munich-style lager. And yet so few micros (in Canada, anyhow) attempt them. While this is often for practical or financial reasons, it must be said that few craft brewers are all that adept at making lagers...
But Howe Sound's brewmaster has a skill set that clearly extends to lagers as well. I wouldn't hesitate to call this the best craft lager in Canada. Mind you, I've been so impressed by the quality and variety of their offerings I already considered Howe Sound one of the country's premier microbreweries.
May 16, 2015Malted grain is every bit as concentrated on the nose, where mildly sweet and gently toasted barley notes absolutely thrive. The aroma may be straightforward but nothing so commanding should be called simple; whereas I often quickly bore of smelling lagers, this one could keep my attention for hours!
For lager lovers, such a clean malty profile is where the heart is. Each sip tastes nourishing, comforting, and wholesome. Its bready, cereal-like flavour and its soft, lightly honeyed lingering is absolutely delectable. Bottom line: beer doesn't get more approachable than this.
Few, if any, of the world's beverages provide the satiation and satisfaction of a Dortmund- or Munich-style lager. And yet so few micros (in Canada, anyhow) attempt them. While this is often for practical or financial reasons, it must be said that few craft brewers are all that adept at making lagers...
But Howe Sound's brewmaster has a skill set that clearly extends to lagers as well. I wouldn't hesitate to call this the best craft lager in Canada. Mind you, I've been so impressed by the quality and variety of their offerings I already considered Howe Sound one of the country's premier microbreweries.
Reviewed by thehyperduck from Canada (ON)
3.86/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
3.86/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
355 mL can from a six-pack picked up at the LCBO; no packaging information. Served at refrigerator temperature.
Pours a foggy golden-amber hue, topped with one finger of white-coloured froth. It seeps away rapidly over the next minute or so, with only a thin collar and some scant lace remaining behind. The aroma is simple, but appropriate for this style - biscuity malts, grainy sweetness, some honey and green apples, along with grassy, somewhat floral hop undertones.
Nothing but clean-tasting German lager goodness in this one. Pale, grainy malt sweetness and lightly toasted biscuits are the dominant flavours, with some vaguely fruity notes in the background. The hops finish things off, providing a mildly floral, somewhat earthy note that contributes to a slightly bittersweet finish. Light-medium in body, with assertive carbonation that still comes off a little lighter than most imported lagers. Very drinkable, and beautifully balanced.
Final Grade: 3.86, a solid B+. This is not really one of my favourite German lager styles, but Howe Sound's Lager is still definitely one of the best Dortmunders I've had the opportunity to try. The malts provide a clean, biscuity sweetness that is perfectly countered by the grassy, floral European hop bill. This is not a complex beer, but it manages to provide everything I expect from this style in spades. German lager fans will definitely want to give this one a shot, but anyone looking for something straightforward to glug back in a social environment should consider this a perfectly valid selection.
Nov 28, 2014Pours a foggy golden-amber hue, topped with one finger of white-coloured froth. It seeps away rapidly over the next minute or so, with only a thin collar and some scant lace remaining behind. The aroma is simple, but appropriate for this style - biscuity malts, grainy sweetness, some honey and green apples, along with grassy, somewhat floral hop undertones.
Nothing but clean-tasting German lager goodness in this one. Pale, grainy malt sweetness and lightly toasted biscuits are the dominant flavours, with some vaguely fruity notes in the background. The hops finish things off, providing a mildly floral, somewhat earthy note that contributes to a slightly bittersweet finish. Light-medium in body, with assertive carbonation that still comes off a little lighter than most imported lagers. Very drinkable, and beautifully balanced.
Final Grade: 3.86, a solid B+. This is not really one of my favourite German lager styles, but Howe Sound's Lager is still definitely one of the best Dortmunders I've had the opportunity to try. The malts provide a clean, biscuity sweetness that is perfectly countered by the grassy, floral European hop bill. This is not a complex beer, but it manages to provide everything I expect from this style in spades. German lager fans will definitely want to give this one a shot, but anyone looking for something straightforward to glug back in a social environment should consider this a perfectly valid selection.
Lager from Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company
Beer rating:
86 out of
100 with
42 ratings
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